Animals differ from humans. When animals accumulate a large amount of spiritual energy, they gain sentience and can use the elemental energies they are familiar with to play tricks on people. For example, in rural areas, there are often stories about yellow weasels—commonly known as the Great Immortal Huang—causing disturbances. This is because they are deeply attuned to the earth’s spiritual energy, or the earth element, which enables them to bewitch people and control their thoughts.
Let me share a piece of advice here:
Whenever the Great Immortal Huang causes trouble in the countryside, it must be hiding close to the person it is bewitching. The higher its spiritual power, the farther away it can be while still influencing someone.
If you encounter such a situation—for example, in someone’s home—simply take a basin or something similar, walk around the house making loud noises by tapping it, and the Great Immortal Huang will be frightened away.
Many people don’t realize how terrifying these creatures can be. Though they are small animals, their little minds are extremely clever.
However, once you understand how they operate, there’s really nothing to fear.
Another thing to note is that when animals cultivate to a higher level, they must transform into human form. Take these giant salamanders, for instance—they can take on human shapes. This transformation isn’t done for fun; it’s necessary for them to continue advancing in cultivation, so they have no choice but to assume human forms.
Animals don’t have a dantian, so they can’t gather or retain large amounts of spiritual energy. Even if they do manage to accumulate some, it dissipates quickly.
When these giant salamanders transformed into little dwarves, they assumed Shui Miao was like them—thinking that eating a few magic fruits would restore his spiritual power. But Shui Miao had already absorbed the entire Immortal Spirit Pearl, and his spiritual energy still hadn’t reached a state of abundance. This is the fundamental difference between human and animal cultivators.
Now, Shui Miao’s spiritual power far surpasses that of these giant salamanders by many times. When Shui Miao transformed them into adult forms, they were greatly surprised and realized that their current abilities were nowhere near as strong as his.
At first, when Shui Miao was weak, they acted without restraint, showing no fear of him.
Now that Shui Miao is strong, they feel fear and are looking for an opportunity to escape.
Shui Miao’s mindset has also changed—he no longer wants to eat them, but instead wants to repay their kindness.
This is a completely normal psychological shift.
Zhang Hanya was deeply shocked by Shui Miao’s great abilities. She could only feel disbelief after disbelief.
※※※
“Ascend to immortality?”
Shui Miao shook his head with a smile. “It’s just an illusion technique. There’s no need to be so surprised.”
The giant salamander sighed, “It’s so great to be human! Brother Shui, if you had met us a few hundred years earlier, you could have soared into the heavens and become an immortal. This Immortal Spirit Pearl has been underground for over a thousand years. Most of its spiritual essence has already dissipated, and the remaining power is less than a thousandth of what it originally contained.”
“I see!” Shui Miao’s heart stirred. “No wonder that thousand-year-old female ghost didn’t bother to secure the Immortal Spirit Pearl before entering seclusion. It seems the pearl has already become something trivial to her. In that case, she probably won’t care too much about this incident.”
“But that’s hard to say. We should leave quickly!”
At the mention of the thousand-year-old ghost, the giant salamanders were overwhelmed with fear and immediately started hopping away.
Although they had taken human form, they still retained their fish-like nature. Walking was unfamiliar to them, while hopping was their natural way of moving.
Shui Miao and Zhang Hanya hurried to follow.
Shui Miao was very curious about the thousand-year-old ghost and wanted to know the origin of the Immortal Spirit Pearl, so he chased after the giant salamanders and asked, “How much do you know about Grandma? And where did this Immortal Spirit Pearl come from?”
“We don’t know. All we know is that Grandma had already been living in the cave for many years before we were even born.” The giant salamanders were eager to leave not only because of their fear of Grandma, but also because they had found life underground unbearably dull and longed to explore a new world.
They didn’t realize that the real world was far more dangerous than the underground realm. Human greed was beyond their imagination.
Since they couldn’t provide any valuable information, Shui Miao felt a bit disappointed.
However, Shui Miao wasn’t particularly afraid of Grandma. She had cultivated for a thousand years, so her moral character must be very high. She definitely wouldn’t commit murder over an Immortal Spirit Pearl whose power was nearly depleted. Her choice to live underground suggested she was a quiet and peaceful ghost, who might have been a virtuous and well-mannered lady in her past life. She certainly wasn’t the kind of malevolent spirit that indulged in killing. As long as they spoke to her calmly, she wouldn’t act recklessly.
Thinking further, a thousand years ago would have been during the Western Zhou Dynasty, the time when Jiang Ziya was said to have sealed the fates of gods in legends. A ghost from that era—Shui Miao was genuinely curious to meet her and find out why she had managed to exist until now. Normally, souls couldn’t escape the cycle of reincarnation within the Three Realms, yet this thousand-year-old ghost had clearly transcended them. Otherwise, how could the Ox-Head and Horse-Face from the Underworld not come to capture her?
Or perhaps she wasn’t really a thousand-year-old ghost at all, but someone with a significant background?
“…”
Shui Miao’s mind was filled with thoughts about this ancient female ghost.
The fact that she possessed the Immortal Spirit Pearl proved that her existence was definitely no ordinary matter.
※※※
A taxi passed by. The driver saw a group of young men and women on the road and stopped to offer them a ride.
Shui Miao asked the driver to wait. Seven people couldn’t fit into one car, so another taxi was needed.
Just then, another taxi arrived.
“Okay, we’ll take three in this one, and four in the other,” Shui Miao waved his hand and prepared to get in.
But to his surprise, the giant salamander-turned-handsome-young-man quickly waved his hand. “We’ll all take the second car. You go ahead in the first one.”
They all squeezed into the second taxi.
Shui Miao was speechless. After getting in, he told the driver to head to Sanya Grand Hotel. Then he turned around and looked at the taxi behind him, smiled faintly, and muttered while shaking his head, “They really can’t be separated!”
“Huh, they’re acting strange. We have more space here, yet they insisted on squeezing together,” Zhang Hanya was also puzzled.
“Whatever. Your shoes are broken. I’ll buy you a new pair right away,” Shui Miao looked at Zhang Hanya’s feet—her high heels had broken heels.
“Stop calling me ‘brother,’ will you? Don’t you ever learn?” Zhang Hanya frowned at him but then smiled and leaned in to whisper, “Can’t you just fix them with your magic?”
“That’s just an illusion technique. Don’t keep bringing it up. People might think you’re crazy,” Shui Miao was genuinely worried that Zhang Hanya would talk about what she had seen. Although no one would believe her, it might still bring some trouble.
“Hmph! So what? I’d like to see who dares to say anything.”
Zhang Hanya pouted, clearly unimpressed.
“Alright, I have a headache. Don’t bother me. Let me rest for a while…”
After saying a few words to Zhang Hanya, Shui Miao closed his eyes, focused his mind, and once again entered his spiritual realm. In this realm, everything returned to normal. Because the Celestial Gate had developed several new cracks, more spiritual energy poured in. Overall, the amount was now twice what it had been before.
As he quietly sensed the energy, Shui Miao also noticed that with the increasing power from the Celestial Gate, the spiritual energy in his dantian no longer flowed into this realm. Instead, the energy from the Celestial Gate continued to flow into his dantian as before. Now, the energy in his dantian had condensed into a mass the size of a fist, slowly rotating and continuously gathering strength.
Shui Miao could feel it, but he didn’t know how to control it.
Without a master’s guidance, he could only follow the natural flow and explore on his own.
After about ten minutes, Shui Miao opened his eyes and suddenly sensed that the taxi behind them had changed direction…
“Where are they going?”
Shui Miao was taken aback. He quickly asked the driver to turn around and follow the others.
Roads in Zhonghai City weren’t like those in small towns where you could easily make a U-turn. Once they passed an intersection, they had to drive a distance before turning back, and they also had to wait for traffic lights. If they broke the rules, the driver would be fined and lose points. After making a detour, the driver could no longer find the taxi carrying the giant salamanders.
Shui Miao asked the driver to head east directly. Not far down the road, Shui Miao had the driver stop the car.
Because he sensed that the taxi carrying the giant salamanders had just stopped by the Zhonghai River nearby. The driver was anxiously pacing near the riverbank.
Shui Miao and Zhang Hanya walked directly to the riverside.
When the taxi driver saw Shui Miao, he hurried over, panic evident on his face. “Young man, what’s wrong with your friends? They didn’t even pay and jumped straight into the river! If they don’t have the money, that’s fine, but jumping into the river in the middle of the night is so dangerous!”
“It’s okay. They’re just fooling around.”
Shui Miao handed the driver a hundred yuan note and smiled.
The driver looked back at the river, nervously saying, “Maybe we should call the police? They’ve been underwater for over ten minutes without surfacing. What if something happened?”
“No worries. They’re all from the swimming team. You can go now. We’ll wait for them here.” Shui Miao smiled and comforted the driver before turning to sit on a rock by the river with Zhang Hanya.
The driver looked at them a few times, anxious but helpless, and finally got back in his car and left.
Once the driver was gone, Zhang Hanya quickly tugged at Shui Miao’s clothes and asked, “Hey, do you think they’re scared we’re going to betray them?”
“I don’t know. Don’t talk. Let me sense if they’re still here.”
Shui Miao took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing his mind.
Sure enough, they were at the bottom of the river, still in human form.
They had released their smaller salamander forms and looked very happy.
Feeling Shui Miao’s consciousness, the giant salamanders also spread their minds and communicated with him telepathically: “Brother Dao, please forgive our abrupt departure. We were worried Grandma would come after us, so we decided to leave first. Please retrieve your spiritual energy—it’s hard for us to swim fast in this form. We’ve shared this fate together. We’ll meet again someday.”
“No, you don’t need to worry. I can send you thousands of miles away…”
Shui Miao tried his best to help them.
But the giant salamander interrupted him: “We’ve made up our minds. Brother Dao, we appreciate your kindness.”
“…”
Seeing their determination, Shui Miao fell silent. After a long pause, he said, “I owe you much. I hope I can repay your kindness someday. I don’t have much to give, but I’ll share my cultivation techniques with you. After you transform into human form, you can try them. Maybe they’ll help.” Without hesitation, Shui Miao transmitted all his cultivation insights and spells to the giant salamanders through his mind. Then, he focused his will and retrieved the spiritual energy he had placed on them.
The giant salamanders transformed back into their original forms and joyfully swam upstream along the Zhonghai River.
“They’re gone!”
Shui Miao opened his eyes, stood up, and felt a pang of guilt. He had almost done something unforgivable due to a momentary impulse, but thankfully, he corrected it before it was too late. However, he knew he must face the thousand-year-old ghost directly and protect these innocent giant salamanders from being dragged into any conflict.
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